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New strike dates announced for BA


The Kraken
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From BBC...

 

"The British Airways cabin crew union, Unite, has announced fresh strike dates in its long-running dispute with the airline.

 

Cabin crew will walk out for four separate five-day strikes in May and June.

 

The first strike will begin on 18 May, ending on 22 May, with the three further strikes beginning on 24 May, 30 May and 5 June.

 

Unite members rejected a fresh deal for cabin crew earlier this month.

 

The union said 81% of the cabin crew it represents voted against BA's offer last week, which sought to resolve the dispute over pay and working conditions.

 

Details of that deal were not given, but Unite said BA had failed to restore the travel perks it withdrew from staff involved in the previous strikes in March.

 

Those stoppages grounded hundreds of flights and cost BA an estimated £45m.

 

The newly-announced strikes will see staff walk out for a total of 20 days, covering spring bank holiday and school half-term holidays.

 

In a statement, Unite's joint general secretaries Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley blamed BA for forcing cabin crew to again resort to industrial action.

 

"There can be no industrial peace without meaningful negotiations and while management victimises trade unionists and uses disciplinary procedures in a witch-hunt," they said, claiming that a Unite approach made over the weekend had been rejected.

 

"The seven days' notice period is sufficient time for BA management to do the sensible thing and reopen meaningful negotiations," they added.

 

 

 

The sooner BA kick Unite into touch, the better. Totally and utterly out of touch with reality.

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Oh surprise surprise, once again the dates May 30th and June 5th weekends coincide with school (half term) holidays ........ how bloody cynical are these people. :mad:. The disruption isn't just on the day of the strike. It screws up the schedule the day before and day after as aircraft and crews are in the wrong place for schedules to continue normally either side of the day of industrial action

 

They are losing all public support, and fare paying passengers but targeting family holidays.

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20 days of strikes......just fooooking sack 'em

 

Yep sack them all and outsource the shortage of capacity to Wet Lease aircraft

 

These strikes won't work and just wait they'll add on dates to screw up fans going to the World Cup.

 

Capello et al should make sure they switch to Virgin for their trip down

 

Protecting their members? Yeah I know where I'd stick their fecking members

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What happens to the employees of a company that goes bust because of strike action?

 

They become unemployed I guess?!

 

Any tiny amount of public support the employees may have once had will surely disappear now.

 

I'm flying out for my 10 days in Majorca with the wife and kids on 1st June; not with BA of course but it better not have an effect on our plans!!

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I honestly thought after the volcano business, Unite might have had a bit of sympathy and would have postponed any strikes until next year. BA were one of the major players in getting the fly zone open again and Willy Walsh deserves a lot of credit for getting up in the air and then pressuring to open the air space. BA lost millions through that and lost millions from the previous strikes. This latest strike action is just not on and will leave BA in deep deep trouble.

 

Just the other week I went to New York and flew with BA. I was paying close to attention to the cabin crews standards and they have certanly dropped since I last flew with them 3 years ago. They have less work to do than in previous years; They don't have to do the safety demos as they are all shown on the tv's, they don't do the duty free as often as they did, drinks and snacks are not as regular and they spend most of their time chatting to each other.

 

A very very bad move by Unite.

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Hehe.

 

Nice to see they've booked the strike action for the half term holidays!

 

I'm guessing they'll have another round of talks - if BA isn't bust! - after this next set of strikes, and they'll withdraw their labour again in time for the summer holidays...

 

Only a matter of time now before BA goes bust - they had meetings with NATS during the volcano thingy, stating they would be bust if it continued for a week, so they must be pretty close to the wire right about now.

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Once again, we agree on something! Sometimes the only way to reform a company that has ingrained working practices is to close it down and start again. It happened with the car industry.

 

No need to reform them - there is enough overcapacity in the industry to soak up the passengers. Give the slots to Virgin, singapore and the arabian carriers and the quality of service won't fall either.

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Once again, we agree on something! Sometimes the only way to reform a company that has ingrained working practices is to close it down and start again. It happened with the car industry.

 

It really annoys me that they feel hard done by yet their colleagues at Gatwick earn less and don't strike.

 

It's a cu*ts trick to do this to passengers.

 

Thankfully my booked BA flights are from Gatwick.

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They're not likely to get much public support - and people will start boycotting BA, which will lead to a further loss in profits and then job cuts.

 

Still, I'm sure Unite have made this abundently clear to its members :rolleyes:

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May I direct concerned holiday makers to http://www.pocruises.com , http://www.cunard.co.uk , and http://www.princess.com ? *

 

Quite why anyone would want to spend 3 hours getting through customs @ LHR or LGW is beyond me, particularly if they happen to live in Southampton and there are boats heading off to the sun most days of the week. Go on one of the bigger newer ships and you won't even be surrounded by the blue rinse brigade...

 

*other cruise lines also sail from Southampton, apparantly

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They earn over double what Virgin cabin crew do as well:

 

Data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) shows for the first time how much higher BA’s wage costs are than its rivals. The average salary for BA’s 14,000 cabin crew, including bonuses and allowances, is £29,900, compared with £14,400 at Virgin Atlantic and £20,200 at easyJet. BA’s pilots earn an average of £107,600, compared with £89,500 at Virgin and £71,400 at easyJet.

 

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article6466748.ece

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Thanks for reminding me, for a moment I was worried. I always avoid BA but I've used up my airmiles for flights to Bermuda for our 40th anniversary in September. They are from Gatwick :-)

 

It's airmiles that are flying my wife and I to Antigua for her 40th with the added bonus of no kids in tow!

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Talk about putting the final nails in their coffin.

 

Who in their right mind will buy advance tickets for BA now?

 

Do these retards not know that by these strikes they will send BA bust and ALL lose their jobs, not only that but no other airline will touch them with a bargepole.

 

Good... I can't wait to see the pictures of them walking out of the British Airways HQ in Heathrow in tears without a job.

 

What a retarded thing to do, go on strike, directly costing a company hundreds of millions of pounds when they have already lost over a billion.

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I find it incredible (and more than a little distasteful) that, having just got out of a recession and with unemployment at an all time high, these people effectively want to hold their employer to ransom.

 

Perhaps they should take a walk down to the local job centre one afternoon, check out the hoards of people clammering to find work and then reconsider their (priviledged) position.

 

If you work in a public sector industry, you should think twice before alienating your clientelle - there is always choice - shun your customer base now and they will shun you in the future.

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Leave, and go work for someone else would seem the most obvious one.

 

It's EXACTLY the same as 'withdrawing' your labour, but you continue to get paid ;)

Fair point. That's certainly the way it works in the industry that I work in.

If you don't like one company you resign and go and work for another.

 

Perhaps there are constraints in the airline industry that prevent BA workers from engaging in such 'free movement' that we (the general public) don't appreciate or understand? Benefit of the doubt and all that...

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There are cleverer, more imaginative ways of protesting against the people that run a company than a blanket strike.

 

This is Unite you're talking about though, an organisation to whom the terms "clever" and "imaginative" are completely alien.

 

I think SRS had it right when he termed them as scum, because this new round of unjustified and thoroughly excessive strikes are designed only to cause chaos to the general public. I'd be more than happy to see any one of them on the picket line lose their jobs, it would be completely deserved for their flagrant disregard of their customers.

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Fair point. That's certainly the way it works in the industry that I work in.

If you don't like one company you resign and go and work for another.

 

Perhaps there are constraints in the airline industry that prevent BA workers from engaging in such 'free movement' that we (the general public) don't appreciate or understand? Benefit of the doubt and all that...

 

 

Yes there is

 

Double the pay of their nearest competitor

5 Star Hotel Accomodation with generous daily allowances

Retained well into their 70's (you SEEN some of their aircrew these days? they used to serve drinks on Zeppelins)

Slower turn-round rates and duty rosters than most of their competitors.

 

The idiots at Unite have forgotten ONE pretty important point. BA do not pay their salaries - WE do when we use them

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Yes there is

 

Double the pay of their nearest competitor

5 Star Hotel Accomodation with generous daily allowances

Retained well into their 70's (you SEEN some of their aircrew these days? they used to serve drinks on Zeppelins)

Slower turn-round rates and duty rosters than most of their competitors.

 

The idiots at Unite have forgotten ONE pretty important point. BA do not pay their salaries - WE do when we use them

 

I was trying to be diplomatic so that I don't fall out with FF ;-)

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Well there doesn't seem the support that there was on the other threads for the strikes.

 

Can we now all agree that the people on strike are complete and utter greedy c*nts and deserve to lose their jobs ( which thankfully they will ) .

 

Perhaps it would help if FF (or someone else 'in the know') posted a 'case study' of a typical BA employee who stands to lose out by what BA are proposing and how it will affect their lives. Until I/we understand the actual personal circumstances isn't it premature to fire off sweeping criticism?

 

For example, let's say BA employee 'X' is currently paid £30k for a job that would only attract £20k at another airline then is it 'morally right' for that employee to lose something they have been used to (and therefore run their household budgets to) even if 'logically' they are being overpaid when compared to their industry as a whole?

 

We all live within our means so how is someone expected to cope if their income vs outgoings ratio is altered unfavourably?

 

Again, just trying to see both sides here.

Edited by trousers
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Perhaps it would help if FF (or someone else 'in the know') posted a 'case study' of a typical BA employee who stands to lose out by what BA are proposing and how it will affect their lives. Until I/we understand the actual personal circumstances isn't it premature to fire off sweeping criticism?

 

For example, let's say BA employee 'X' is currently paid £30k for a job that would only attract £20k at another airline then is it 'morally right' for that employee to lose something they have been used to (and therefore run their household budgets to) even if 'logically' they are being overpaid when compared to their industry as a whole?

 

We all live within our means so how is someone expected to cope if their income vs outgoings ratio is altered unfavourably?

 

Again, just trying to see both sides here.

 

Fair argument IF this was about pay, but it isn't. The Union are making a stand to stop erosion of "perks" and "business processes".

 

In the long run the cost (ie Pay) issue is what BA are aiming at, however at this stage the Unions have basically decided (in very simplistic terms) to make their stand over issues such the reduction of the number of crew on certain flights - each flight has a CSD Cabin Service Director who doesn't serve.

 

All other airlines CSD serves in First Class (Not the most stressed section of the plane)

 

Unite are destroying the Ozone layer by forcing BA to carry extra fuel to carry the CSD who's only task I've ever seen is chatting to the rest of the crew.

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Fair argument IF this was about pay, but it isn't. The Union are making a stand to stop erosion of "perks" and "business processes".

 

In the long run the cost (ie Pay) issue is what BA are aiming at, however at this stage the Unions have basically decided (in very simplistic terms) to make their stand over issues such the reduction of the number of crew on certain flights - each flight has a CSD Cabin Service Director who doesn't serve.

 

All other airlines CSD serves in First Class (Not the most stressed section of the plane)

 

Unite are destroying the Ozone layer by forcing BA to carry extra fuel to carry the CSD who's only task I've ever seen is chatting to the rest of the crew.

 

Let's not also forget they are striking because BA are cutting jobs to try and stop the billion pounds they have lost in the last 2 years.

 

It's the most retarded thing ever that they think striking will solve this and not put more nails in the coffin. :lol:

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